KMi Seminars
Synergistic serendipity
This event took place on Monday 12 December 2005 at 12:30

 
Dr. Russell Beale Advanced Interaction Group, School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

Modern computers have evolved from the beige box under the desk into an integral part of our environment and infrastructure. They are exceptional tools, offering great power and connectivity and allowing us to achieve things previously unimagined. But they remain a frustrating collaborator: pedantic, almost autistic in behaviour, it is hard get them to work with us in tackling ill-defined problems.

In this talk, I'll discuss a synergistic approach to designing and developing systems that try to bridge this gap by maximising the skills of the user through augmenting them with the capabilities of the computer. I'll discuss a number of examples of systems that have been developed from these principles, including a data mining system which understands that we're simple creatures who can't cope with multidimensional data too easily and like to speak in broad generalisations, and an internet browser that peers into the future for you. I'll also discuss how our interactions with systems have been changing, and how we can get systems to support social interaction, dating, and joke-telling - and why it's important.

 
KMi Seminars
 

Future Internet is...


Future Internet
With over a billion users, today's Internet is arguably the most successful human artifact ever created. The Internet's physical infrastructure, software, and content now play an integral part of the lives of everyone on the planet, whether they interact with it directly or not. Now nearing its fifth decade, the Internet has shown remarkable resilience and flexibility in the face of ever increasing numbers of users, data volume, and changing usage patterns, but faces growing challenges in meetings the needs of our knowledge society. Globally, many major initiatives are underway to address the need for more scientific research, physical infrastructure investment, better education, and better utilisation of the Internet. Within Japan, USA and Europe major new initiatives have begun in the area.

To succeed the Future Internet will need to address a number of cross-cutting challenges including:

  • Scalability in the face of peer-to-peer traffic, decentralisation, and increased openness

  • Trust when government, medical, financial, personal data are increasingly trusted to the cloud, and middleware will increasingly use dynamic service selection

  • Interoperability of semantic data and metadata, and of services which will be dynamically orchestrated

  • Pervasive usability for users of mobile devices, different languages, cultures and physical abilities

  • Mobility for users who expect a seamless experience across spaces, devices, and velocities